Steven, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, heads towards the temple as he sighs. "Huh?" Upon hearing a scratching noise, Steven looks up to see Lion appearing to sharpen his nails on the front door as he digs into it.

Steven gasps as he steps up onto the porch, glaring from the betrayal of his best friend. "Hey! Hey, Lion! You left me at the pizza place! I looked like a fool! I had to eat a whole pizza by myself!" Lion shatters the glass of the door as he claws his way into the temple.

He leaps inside as it spots its target. A red pillow fixed with a green jewel attached to it. "Lion? Lion, no!" Lion gazes at the item sitting undisturbed on top of Amethyst's cushion house like her as she snores in her sleep underneath it.

Steven raises his eyebrow stares at them with glowing eyes. "Lion?" Without warning, Lion roars a shockwave through the temple, causing the pillows to fly against the wall behind them with Amethyst. She rebounds onto the couch as the pillows land on top of her.

"Keep it down, Steven." Steven turns back to Lion as it looks up at the item on Steven's side of the living room above the current platform. "What was that for?" Steven turns in Lion's direction and he gapes. "The pillow?" Steven rushes up the stairs onto the platform before holding the pillow up.

"Is THIS...what you wanted? This pillow?" Steven's eyes well up as he realizes the devastating truth. "I've trying to play with you and feed you cause I thought we were best friends! Did all of that mean nothing to you?" Lion's expression remains emotionless as he climbs onto the platform to join Steven.

He gasps as he darts down towards the porch. "Fine! I don't care! I you want it, you can have it!" He yells as he tosses the pillow a good distance from the temple. As soon as the pillow lands in the beach, sand starts rising out as it starts to reform its fortress. Steven dashes down towards the beach as he gasps.

He watches helplessly as pillars of sand rise towards the swirling vortex above him. "Steven!" Steven turns to face Pearl and Garnet as Amethyst casually steps onto the porch. "The Desert Glass! It's rebuilding it's castle." She whips a glare at Amethyst. "Why didn't you bubble it earlier?!"

Amethyst shrugs. "Welcome to Shrug City, P." Pearl turns back to Steven and she calls out to him. "Don't move! We're coming!" Steven raises his hands as sands starts swirling in between them, cutting off their connection. "Okay!"

Steven grunts as he enters the vortex. He look up as he raises his eyebrow. "Huh?" Steven looks upon a giant cylinder complex as it rises with sand pillars and sand staircases to add to its towering structure. "There it is! The pillow! I have to get it off the sand!"

He grits his teeth as he rushes up the staircase. It breaks down as Steven pants on his way up. Steven yells as the staircases collapses. He lands onto another rising pillar. He grunts as pulls himself onto the platform. He leaps into another pillar to his left before jumping onto another unstable flight of stairs.

He screams as he hurries up to the top before jumping onto another pillar which rises just about as high as the main complex containing the pillow. Before he could react, Steven crashes onto the side of his final pillar. Steven screams as he slides down onto a thin block poking itself out of the pillar.

After a few seconds, the block breaks off, causing Steven fall down towards the menacing spikes of sand below him. He flails his body as it hits a spike below, puncturing its skin before hitting the ground. Steven closes his eyes as he coughs out. "Now what?"

He slips away from his conciousness as he reaches out for the pillow. He sighs, closing his eyes as his hand rests on the sand. Outside the vortex, the sandstorms grows to an even greater extend than it had before. Pearl grits her teeth as the storm starts to send her and Garnet into the raging vortex. "Where's Steven?!"

Pearl looks around as she grimaces. "If that castle gets big enough, it'll take over all of Beach City!" She growls at the sky. "AMETHYST, IF WE EVER GET OUT OF THIS, YOU'RE SO GONNA GET IT LATER!" She stamps her foot as Garnet gapes at the vortex starting to surround them.

"Oh what's the use?! We'll never get out of this! It's hopeless!" She wanders through the vortex as Amethyst drops down onto a pillar with a grunt. Pearl smiles. "Alright, Amethyst! Time for you to fix your mistake for once!" The pillar immediately collapses and Amethyst lands on the ground as Pearl facepalms.

"Oh come on!" She groans as Amethyst steps up to the Gems. "Uh, guys?! I don't think we can stop this thing! I think we should call it a day!"
"ARE YOU INSANE! WE DIDN'T TAKE ON A GEM WAR FOR ABOUT A THOUSAND YEARS JUST TO GIVE IN TO SOME LOUSY SAND CASTLE!"

A pillar rises out of the ground beneath Pearl. It carries her up as she gasps. "Oh no!" She eyes the pillow resting on the giant complex in front of her, safe on its evergrowing structure. She feels the platform crumble beneath her feet.

She jumps as high into the air as she can before landing onto the complex with a smirk. "Ha!" She rushes to pick up the pillow to end it's chaos as figure jumps in front of her. "The lion?" She raises her eyebrow as the Lion roars at her. Pearl ducks just in time as the shockwave weathers a couple of pillars nearby.

She growls at the lion as she clenches her teeth. "Are you the guardian of the Desert Glass?!" The lion roars as Pearl whips out her spear. "Well your castle is going down!" She fires at Lion as he roars again. Pearl somersaults forward as Lion roars again. Pearl jumps into the air and she lands back down as she reaches for the pillow.

The Lion roars and the shockwave sends Pearl spiraling through the air towards the very edge of the complex. The Lion roars once more as Pearl fires a direct ray of light at him. It groans as it hits its nose. "Steven may have trusted you, but I won't!"

Lion tries to cover his nose as Pearl fires more ray at him. One hits it's legs, another hits the mane, and the last one lands a critical hit on nose once more. The Lion collapses as Pearl grins. She steps up to the Desert Glass and she picks it up.

The complex collapses along with everything else in sight as the sky turns from gray swirs to blue with its unique clouds. Pearl lands on the beach with a grunt and she pants as Garnet gives her a thumbs-up. "Nice job, Pearl! Now let's go get Steven!"

Pearl bubbles the pillow as she glares at Amethyst. She gasps she notices Steven's motionless body in the sand. She points to him and the Gems grimace as they rush over to him. "STEVEN!" Pearl presses a hand to his chest.

"Garnet, I'm not getting anything!" Pearl moves out of Garnet's way she moves up to Steven. "Steven!" Steven groans as he presses a hand to his forehead. "What happened?" Steven widens his eyes as he calls out. "Lion?!" He gets up. "LION?!"

He looks down. "He's gone." He sighs. "We had our moments." He looks back up at the Gems. "Are you guys, okay?" They nod. "Don't worry, Steven. We're perfectly fine. The Desert Glass has been taken care of. It will never threaten this place ever again."

Pearl taps the top of the bubble and it dissapates. Steven frowns as he heads towards the temple. He makes his way up the wooden steps before he stops to rest his hands on the railing. He looks up into the sky with a sigh. "Please come back soon, Lion."